Technology’s Overlooked Deep Bench

History is the roadmap for our future. We learn from it to avoid making the same mistakes. But that roadmap gets all blurry when we compromise our teaching of history. It’s been said before — a mind is a terrible thing to waste — but in a global tech economy, the price gets higher every day.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Part of the reason minority children don’t often imagine themselves as future inventors or scientists is because they haven’t been exposed to the many minority inventors and scientists that have changed the world. They are taught about old white guys like Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell. They don’t think of Lewis Latimer, the black man who drafted the patent for Bell’s telephone and invented the filament that made Edison’s light bulb burn longer so it was practical for homes and businesses. Why isn’t his face pinned to the bulletin boards of classrooms?

Latimer is no anomaly, no side story. Gerald A. Lawson, a self-taught engineer, revolutionized video entertainment by inventing the first game system with interchangeable cartridges. Patricia Bath, half African-American and half Native-American, invented a laserphaco probe that saved the eyesight of millions and helped restore the eyesight of some blind people. Marc Hannah, the electrical engineer and computer graphics designer, created software that was used to make the special effects in Jurassic Park, Aladdin, and Terminator 2. Oh yeah — he also helped design the Nintendo 64 gaming system.

There are many contemporary inventors and innovators that, if minority children knew them, might act as role models to inspire them to see themselves as something other than media favorites like LeBron James, Jay-Z and Beyonce.

I’ve gone to many schools to talk about these inventors (my lifelong secret passion is to be a history teacher), and the experience is pretty amazing.

Last month, for example, I spoke to a group of elementary school and middle school students. There I was, towering over them, explaining how the microphone in the cellphone was invented, the blood bank established, 3-D television dreamed up, and the first potato chip cooked up. All by black men and women. The kids seemed surprised and impressed.

Then it was time for questions.

“How tall are you?” “Are you friends with any of the Lakers?” “How many baskets did you score?” were the first round.

I know what you’re thinking. But those predictable questions were soon followed by others that gave me hope I’d actually gotten through to them.

“Who is your favorite inventor?” “How long did it take you to write the book?” “How did you research?”

I answered all questions with equal delight. Later, when I was able to talk one-on-one with students, something even more wonderful happened. Child after child came up to me saying things like, “I’d like to be an inventor. I never thought I could before today.” And, “I think I could be a writer. You made it sound fun.” And, “I’ve always hated science, but now it seems kinda interesting.”

Of course, I don’t expect all the children who proclaimed they’d like to be inventors or writers to actually follow through. Maybe next week when a police officer talks to them they’ll want to be cops.

The point is, because they saw a man of color talk about other men and women of color that had accomplished so much in science and technology, a lot of black and Hispanic kids got the idea that they, too, could be inventors. Or writers. Or scientists. Professions they hadn’t imagined that they could do.

There’s a lot we can do as a nation and as a people to promote awareness of achievements by black Americans. But I’m going to focus on what we can do in my special interest, education.

1) Textbooks

First, we have to make sure our children’s textbooks are both accurate and inclusive. The problem is that textbooks are usually approved by state boards of education and the people on those boards are not educators. Instead, they have a political agenda that can have widespread devastating effects. In 2010, historians condemned the Texas Board of Education for insisting that textbook publishers change the books in such a way that would confirm local political prejudices by being historically inaccurate.

At first the may seem like merely a local problem, but Texas has 4.7 million students for those textbooks. If a publisher wants their business, it will alter the books according to those wishes. Those same textbooks will then be sold to other states that have less buying power and therefore less influence. And we end up with generation after generation across the country, raised on misinformation. Parents, as well as state and federal government agencies, must put their own ideology aside for the sake of their children’s education.

2) Teachers

Teachers have to take on the responsibility to educate students about the contributions of all Americans. If the textbook is inaccurate, teach the truth. If it includes only the most traditional historical figures, bring in pictures and stories on your own. Pin up those multicultural faces so the students can see them daily and imagine themselves one day on those hallowed walls.

3) School

I’m a fan of Black History Month because it’s helped educate a lot of people about the contributions African-Americans have made to our culture. But there’s also a danger that because of it, February will become a kind of educational ghetto in which we confine those teachings. I’m not advocating eliminating BHM, but we should make more of an effort to incorporate the same teachings into the daily curriculum on a year-round basis.

Toward that end, schools should consider Rainbow Displays and assemblies that feature a spectrum of multi-colored, multi-gendered, and multi-sexually oriented people of achievement. Such programs could be especially effective during other events. For example, start the Science Fair with a tribute to a group of scientists of different shades, genders, and orientation. Sure, there will sometimes be parental backlash, just as there are when some parents want to get The Catcher in the Rye banned. That’s when school officials have to be courageous, just like the people were in the textbooks we use to teach our children to be courageous.

Everybody Wins

Teach young children about these men and women of color is a no-brainer. It will encourage white children to show more respect for minorities and take us another step closer to being judged, as Dr. King said, “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” It will expose minority children to people who look just like them excelling in professions other than sports and entertainment. The more kids we encourage to follow their passions, the stronger our society is. The more scientists and inventors we produce, the better our chances to compete in the world marketplace of ideas and technology.

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, kids couldn’t imagine a black man playing basketball or baseball. Until they saw Earl Lloyd and Jackie Robinson. They couldn’t imagine being President of the United States — until Nov. 5, 2008 when Barack Obama said, “Yes, we can!” We can see the welcome revolution that started and how much the world has benefited.

If we can make an aggressive effort in the classroom and in the media to include more role models of color and more women, certainly we can start the same revolution in the world of technology, thereby inspiring an untapped resource to step up to fulfill their dreams and take this country to even greater heights of achievement in the 21st Century.

America’s bench of talent and brains is deep and eager to be tested. We just need to give them the chance.